Severe accident source terms for a sodium-cooled fast reactor

• This study analyzes offsite doses for characteristic SFR scenarios.
• Models to calculate the source term for an SFR were developed for this work.
• Environmental releases are small due to effectiveness of retention mechanisms.
• NRC’s Quantitative Health Objectives are satisfied with high margins.

In order to support the demonstration of a risk-informed approach to the design optimization of a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), it was necessary to make realistic estimates of the consequences of severe accident scenarios. This paper describes the database, models, and assumptions used to estimate the offsite consequences of characteristic severe accident scenarios. As required for comparison with the NRC’s technology neutral framework limit curve, the offsite dose at one mile from the plant boundary is calculated using conservative meteorology.The reference plant design is a 1000 MWt pool-type design with metallic fuel. Because an integrated analysis tool comparable to MELCOR does not exist for SFR accident scenario analysis, it was necessary to write a computer code that would assess release of radionuclides from the fuel and transport within the reactor primary system and to link those analyses with results from existing computer codes that assess the dynamic response of the reactor, containment thermal–hydraulics, and radionuclide transport processes within the containment. The analyses indicate that the offsite source terms for SFR severe accident scenarios tend to be small because of the low melting temperature of the fuel, likelihood of significant retention of fission products within the sodium pool, augmentation of containment deposition processes by interaction with sodium oxide aerosols, and small driving force for release from the containment to the environment. A number of major sources of modeling uncertainty are identified as requiring further development effort. An integrated modeling capability, similar to the MELCOR code, is required to direct further research and ultimately to support the licensing of an SFR.